


Tau'ri's Shadow

by lizard_socks



Series: Something Unusual [3]
Category: Stargate SG-1, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon-Compliant - Stargate SG-1, Crossover, Gen, Not Canon-Complaint - Steven Universe, Post-Episode: s08e04 Zero Hour, Self-Discovery, Teal'c POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:55:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizard_socks/pseuds/lizard_socks
Summary: Teal'c has heard the Jaffa tell stories of an unusual holographic enemy, but he never thought he'd encounter one in the halls of the SGC.
Series: Something Unusual [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043484
Comments: 15
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should not require any knowledge of SU, but contains spoilers for it; also assumes you've seen SG-1 through the beginning of Season 8 and may contain spoilers up to that point.

Teal'c awakened to the sound of gunfire coming from the other side of the concrete wall.  


He no longer needed kelno'reem, but sleep was still a new experience to him. He was still known to sometimes light candles in his room overnight. Luckily, this was not one of those nights, and he didn't need to dodge any open flames to grab his staff weapon and run into the corridor. He almost ran into Col. Reynolds on the way out. The two ducked into a side passage.  


"Has an enemy come through the gate?" Teal'c asked.  


"Other direction," Reynolds told him. "Came down from outside. Must be alien - she's just one person, but she seems darn near invincible. All our weapons do is slow her down a little."  


"Does she posess weaponry of her own?"  


"Some sort of spiky whip. We tried pulling it away from her, but she just pulls a new one out of her chest."

"You say she is resistant to the weapons of the Tau'ri?"  


"The bullets just pass through her." Reynolds handed Teal'c a zat'nik'tel. "These don't seem to do anything either."

"Perhaps she is a hologram."  


"But if she was just a projection from somewhere else, wouldn't she be completely intangible?"  
  
"Indeed. I believe she carries the source of the hologram with her." Teal'c lifted his staff weapon. "She is coming."  


Reynolds took a step back and readied his pistol, prepared to protect Teal'c by doing what little damage he could. But it turned out to be unnecessary. Instead of firing his weapon, Teal'c swung it around and quickly impaled the alien in the chest before she even saw him step into the hall. As he expected, the alien's body simply disppeared, leaving behind nothing but a small gemstone.  


He handed the gem to Reynolds.  


"Place her in confinement immediately," he said. "Our standard security procedures will be sufficient."  


* * *

"No casualties?" asked Gen. O'Neill. "Not even a minor injury?"  


Teal'c nodded. "It appears the intruder took great care to minimize injury to our personnel."  


"So she just walks into the base. Nobody can stop her. Nobody's even sure where she came from. You'd think there'd be some information out there about a magic purple woman." O'Neill got up from his desk and looked off into the distance. "You think there are others?"  


"These beings come from a far away region of the galaxy, to which the gate system does not extend," said Teal'c. "I did not believe there _were_ any on this planet."  


"Well, there's at least one. Any _inkling_ why?"  


Teal'c thought for a moment. Although the Jaffa rarely encountered this unusual holographic race, the engagements with them had been memorable, and stories of them had passed through families and across armies. They could not be fought in the same manner as organic beings, but they had their own set of weaknesses.  


Among them: their military's reliance on formal protocol to maintain order.  


"An invasion is unlikely," Teal'c said. "Our opponent was created as a common soldier. A proper invasion force would consist of several identical beings."  


"...Created? Identical? Who's creating them?"  


"This, I do not know."  


O'Neill casually walked around Teal'c and started to head out the door, before glancing back at his old teammate.  


"Well, let's go ask her."  



	2. Chapter 2

"So you do not know from where your kind arises?" asked Teal'c. He sat next to O'Neill, across the table from the alien intruder. She hadn't caused any lasting injury in her break-in, and she didn't seem to be in any rush to make her next move. The general had posted a few airmen outside the locked door of the room, just in case, and took the extra step of arming them with wooden Jaffa training staves that the base had lying around.  


"First thing I remember was being buried underground," said the alien. "There was a little bit of light coming in from a little hole. Sometimes it would go away, and then come back."  


"You mean, day and night?" O'Neill asked.  


"Yeah. So I did that for a hundred years or so. Then I got tired of it, just started digging upwards, and eventually I ended up on top of a mountain."  


"On Earth?"

"Never been anywhere else."  


Amethyst, as she called herself, was lying on the floor, tossing a beanbag in the air. She wore a loose-fitting sleeveless shirt and a pair of distressed jeans, and her hair extended almost to her legs. She was affecting a laid-back attitude about the situation, but Teal'c wondered if there might be some hidden anxiety; Jaffa warriors never gave away any doubts they had until it was time to act upon them. Perhaps these amethyst warriors were the same.

"I hope you're right about me being an alien, though," she continued, keeping her eyes on the beanbag. "Haven't seen anyone else like me in almost five thousand years."  


"So you were alive five thousand years ago," said O'Neill. "In North America. And nobody's ever remarked upon the magic purple woman with amazing hair?"  


"I can be a normal person color if I want to."  


"Can you show us?"  


"Nah, I'm too tired. I just had to fight you all." She glanced at Teal'c. "You probably have to wear a lot of hats."  


Teal'c nodded. "What was your purpose in coming here?"  


"Heard there were aliens. I was hoping there'd some like me."  


"And how exactly did you hear about us?"  


"Is it _really_ that important?" Amethyst asked, sighing and sitting up against the concrete wall.  


O'Neill looked her in the eyes. " _Yes_ , it's important."  


"Okay, fine. This is, like, the tenth place I've tried. I only checked it out because of that show _Wormhole X-Treme_."  


Teal'c smiled. "I too enjoy that program. I recently acquired it on disc."  


* * *

"Well, there's probably not a leak," O'Neill said as he and Teal'c walked back to the briefing room. "Trial and error, probably. Sounds like she's already broken into and escaped from half the government facilities on the planet."  


"If that is true, then these incursions have not been reported," noted Teal'c.  


"Yeah, well, nobody wants to admit they got completely overrun by a person with a _whip_. Plus, I'm guessing whatever reports are getting written, the president is keeping them under wraps."  


"Perhaps he is attempting to recruit her."  


O'Neill stopped and turned to look at Teal'c. "Seems like a pretty big leap, there."  


"The gems are formidiable warriors. Small in number, but even one of them would be a powerful force, and nearly impossible to kill."  


"But not to incapacitate."  


Teal'c shook his head.  


"Might be nice, though. A team of hologram fighters, one in each color of the rainbow." O'Neill glanced back at the door to the holding cell. "I wonder if they come in peridot?"  



	3. Chapter 3

O'Neill called the rest of Teal'c's team - Brig. Gen. Carter and Dr. Daniel Jackson - into the briefing room.

"Five thousand years?" Daniel seemed intrigued. "That would put her creation right around the end of Goa'uld rule on Earth. She could be a valuable source of historical information."  


"If she was paying attention," said O'Neill.  


"What do you mean by that?"  


"Well, she's... not really someone who seems like she'd _know_ all that stuff."  


Daniel and Carter looked to the general for further elaboration. He, in turn, looked to Teal'c.  


"Her personality and demeanor is reminiscent of that of O'Neill."  


O'Neill nodded. "Yeah. Exactly."  


"I know you're not a scientist or an academic," Carter said, "but I think you understand more than you let on. Amethyst might be the same way. She might still be able to help us."  


"She _did_ break into the base," noted Daniel. "I'm not sure how we get around that."  


"She took care not to seriously hurt anyone. And we have had intruders before who've eventually become allies. That's how we met the Tok'ra."  


"And how the Asgard met us."  


"There you go." O'Neill gestured towards Daniel. " _We_ poke around all sorts of places where we're not wanted."  


"I take it you're hoping she can help us," said Carter. "Teal'c? What can you tell us about her race?"  


"They are not organic beings such as us, or even the Goa'uld," Teal'c said. "Their souls exist in polished stone, and it is from that point where their holographic bodies are projected. Yet they talk and act much as we do. However, they do not reproduce in the same manner; they must always conquer new planets and extract their resources to grow their number."  


"But Amethyst doesn't know any of this?" asked Daniel.  


"She knows only what we have told her. It appears she has no memory of her life before being buried on this planet."  


"That's why she came looking for us, then. She's been the only one of her kind for thousands of years. She wanted to find someone else like her."  


"Well." O'Neill looked around the room. "Maybe we should help her look."  


* * *

"Readings on the MALP show a breathable atmosphere, no toxins." An image of P6Y-331 appeared on the monitor. The planet's gate was in what looked like an old temple; the ceiling was apparently missing, as a thin layer of snow covered the floor, but the walls seemed sturdy. Carter told the MALP's camera to rotate for a wider view. "I don't see anyone in the area, but there's a lot of places they could hide behind that wall." 

"Can you send the MALP in?" Daniel asked. He stood, next to Teal'c, behind Carter and the gate technicians.  


"If there are people there, and they know enough about the MALP to hide from it, they'd probably just retreat further to preserve their ambush."  


"Good point."  


O'Neill made his way up the stairs. "You found them?" he asked.  


"We haven't seen any yet, sir." Carter turned the MALP back around the make sure the other side had a dialing device. "But out of the three possible Gem planets the Jaffa resistance gave us gate addresses to, this seems the most promising. The other two look pretty much abandoned. No breathable atmosphere either."  


"I thought they didn't need to breathe."  


" _We_ would, if we want to go there."  


"Right." O'Neill stepped forward to take a closer look at the screen. "What makes you think there would be an ambush?"  


Daniel pointed to a small round object in the corner. "There's some sort of viscous liquid dripping out of this device."  


"Goo."  


"Yeah. It must have gotten there recently, or it would have all dripped out already."  


"Any idea what it does?"  


Daniel paused for a moment. "We're guessing reconnaissance drone," he said, "but it's hard to tell for sure."  


"Well, maybe we'll send the four of you in with some extra backup."  


" _Four_ of us?"  


O'Neill turned around to walk back to his office. "Yeah. Amethyst is coming with you."  



	4. Chapter 4

As Teal'c entered Amethyst's room, he made a note of the weaponry of the airmen guarding it.  


The room was better furnished than the last time Teal'c had seen it. Evidently, someone had brought in the bed and dresser from his own old quarters on the base. Amethyst made full use of the bed, laying sideways over its edge while playing _Frogger_. She now appeared to be dressed in the same uniform that SG team members wore on missions. One of Teal'c's tasks had been to deliver such a uniform to her; it appeared, however, that her ability to modify her appearance extended to her clothing, and Teal'c realized that she would have little use for the dresser.  


"General O'Neill informs me that you are vulnerable to fire from our submachine guns," Teal'c told her.  


"Well, yeah," she said, distractedly. "Who do you think told him?"  


Teal'c nodded. "I suspected that you were indeed the source of the information."  


"As long as they don't hit my gem, I can take a couple shots at a time. But a whole bunch of them at once? Might as well just stab me with a sword." She paused for a few seconds. "Wouldn't be the first time either way. You wanna know why I told him?"  


"I am curious."  


"Only reason I needed to be able to fight these dudes is to get far enough inside that they wouldn't wanna kick me out. I've seen _so_ much secret stuff by now. But if I'm gonna go with you to meet other gems, well, he'll wanna be able to trust me, right?"  


* * *

"Remember," said Carter, "our goal is to establish peaceful contact, or if the area is abandoned, to explore it and collect what information we can. But we need to be prepared for whatever might happen."  


"From everything Amethyst has told me about _her_ life," Daniel said, "I doubt the Gems behave all that differently from humans, although I doubt we'll find any serving the Goa'uld. But if they decide we're a threat..."  


All eyes turned towards Teal'c... including Amethyst's.  


"The Gems have capable ships at their disposal," he said, "but our approach will preclude such an attack. Their ground forces possess incredible strength and stamina, but their greatest weakness is a reluctance to change their strategies to meet the enemy. They are unlikely to possess weapons beyond what their own forms can create."  


"Wouldn't their weapons be just as strong as Amethyst's?" Carter asked.  


Teal'c nodded. "They would. However, they will have limited range compared to those of the Tau'ri. We will be able to fight them off from afar and retreat if needed. Once behind cover, our explosives will allow us to weaponize the environment."  


"So we just gotta blow up some rocks," said Amethyst, "and all the little rocks will knock everyone out."  


"That would be our strategy, if we are unable to retreat through the gate. Let us hope it does not come to that."  


* * *

The team stepped through the gate on P6Y-331. Sun shone down from above, melting the snow to slush on the stone floor. The labyrinthine walls and doorways of the old temple surrounded them on three sides; any one of them could be hiding an ambush force - likely a group of Rubies, if Teal'c's predictions were correct.

Teal'c wielded his staff weapon, prepared to shoot the wall down on top of whoever emerged. Daniel and Carter held their P90s. Amethyst was the last to step through the gate; having no formal training with ranged weaponry, she preferred to take her chances with the whip and her own considerable physical ability.  


Daniel stepped forward and knelt down to take a look at the probe. All the "goo" had drained out onto the ground.  


"Halt!"  


The team heard a woman's voice from behind the wall. Teal'c turned his attention, and his staff, towards the open doorway.  


"We will not allow you to enforce your rules on our society."  


The bearer of the voice emerged from behind the wall. A Pearl, holding a spear, clearly not intimidated by Teal'c or the rest of SG-1. She was looking right at Amethyst, and as she spoke, other Gems began to come out into the open. Two Sapphires, a Lapis Lazuli, a Bixbite, a Bismuth; they all stood their ground and stared SG-1 down, fully ready for a fight.  


Only Bixbite seemed distracted by one last Gem approaching from behind her: a green girl who, clearly caught by surprise, was running awkwardly down the hall, trying to catch up with the rest of her group.  


"It appears the general was correct," Teal'c said to nobody in particular. "There is indeed a Peridot."  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The version of Frogger she's playing is the PlayStation one. She's getting pretty good at it but the cave zone has been giving her trouble.


	5. Chapter 5

Teal'c saw Daniel and Carter gesture to each other out of the corner of his eye. Carter continued to hold onto her weapon; she pointed it not directly at the group of Gems beyond the doorway, but at the space in front of it, ready to open fire if they stepped through. Daniel, however, lowered his weapon as he slowly walked towards the door.  


"I won't fire," he said to the Pearl. "I just want to talk."  


Bixbite tapped Pearl on the shoulder. Like others Teal'c had seen, this Bixbite was clad in sleek salmon-colored armor, with a single eye covered in part by a helmet. "Shouldn't we attack now?" she asked. "Before the other quartzes get here?"  


"No more of them will arrive," one of the Sapphires said. Much shorter than the others, the Sapphires wore formal dresses with hair low enough to cover their eyes.  


"Really. Huh."  


"And," said Pearl, "they seem to be accompanied by organics... What kind of readings do you have, Peridot?"  


Peridot, a green Gem with robotic-looking arms and legs, pulled out a pair of high-tech binoculars. "It appears to be a transient warp portal. Used for transport to places without a permanent-"  


"Not the portal, Peridot." Bismuth turned to Pearl. This gray Gem had an imposing build, not unlike Teal'c's own. "Sorry. She just got here."  


"No need to apologize," Pearl said. She put her hand up to her eyes, looking past Daniel towards the other members of SG-1. "Looks like there's two more. Both armed with unfamiliar weapons."  


"Pearl?" said Lapis, whose deep blue color made her almost invisible in the shadow of the temple's walls. "I think the one on the right is a Jaffa."  


"Well, that doesn't make any sense. Why would there be just one Jaffa? And just one Amethyst?"  


Daniel looked back at Carter, who simply shrugged. It seemed the two of them were content with letting this drag out. Teal'c was willing to follow their lead.  


"They can't be from Homeworld," Bixbite said. "No way they'd send a group like this."  


That seemed to catch Amethyst's attention. She briefly grabbed Teal'c's arm in excitement. "Homeworld?" she asked the other Gems. "You know where that is?"  


Pearl's attention immediately to Amethyst. "We're _not_ sending you back," she said.  


"Why not?"  


"We can't afford to. We're not giving Homeworld any more soldiers than they already have."  


"But I don't-- I'm not going to _fight_ you," Amethyst protested. Teal'c began to notice a change in her demeanor. She seemed nervous in a way she hadn't been before, not even when fighting off dozens of airmen in the halls of the SGC. "I'm just trying... listen. I'm not _from_ Homeworld, okay? I'm with _these_ dudes." She gestured towards the members of SG-1.  


"She is in reality our prisoner," Teal'c added.  


"Well, I didn't say I _wasn't_. The point is, I don't want to hurt you."  


Bixbite put her hands together behind her back. "I think she's telling the truth, Pearl," she said.  


"It doesn't matter," muttered Bismuth. "She _is_ going to hurt us."  


Pearl sighed. "Bismuth is right. It doesn't matter what her intentions are. She's never going to understand."  


"Understand _wha_ _t?_ " Amethyst, still standing next to Teal'c - several yards away from the other Gems - was almost shouting. "I don't even know you you are!"  


"That's exactly the problem." Pearl spoke up; she may have been looking at the Gems around her, but she knew Amethyst could hear. "We've tried to recruit Amethysts before. They always say they'll help, but they never really care." She glanced at Amethyst out of the corner of her eyes. "The minute things get serious, they abandon us."  


Amethyst's voice became quiet. "I... I just wanted to meet other Gems. I've never--"  


"This?" Bismuth gestured towards her group. " _This_ isn't about you. And it never will be."  


Pearl nodded. "Now..." She calmly turned her attention toward Daniel. "Who might you be?"  


* * *

Teal'c pulled the TV cart over to the briefing room table before taking a seat. General O'Neill had called a briefing with not just SG-1, but also the four members of SG-26, a military and scientific strike force.  


"They call themselves the Rebellion." Daniel slid printouts across the table.  


"Creative," said O'Neill.  


"Well, this is a race who calls their homeworld 'Homeworld'."  


Teal'c snuck a glance at the man seated to his left. Ichigo Nakayama was known on the base for his outgoing personality, but even he showed no particular reaction to Daniel's unusual report.  


"Everything the Rebellion told us lines up with what we know about them from the Jaffa," Daniel continued. "But we did get more information on Homeworld itself." He tapped a button, and the monitor switched to a hierarchical diagram. "The planet and its colonies operate under a single government with a very strict hierarchy. There are four supreme rulers - the rough equivalent on Earth would be a co-monarchy. Together, they're responsible for the creation - maybe you could call it manufacture - of all other Gems. But one of the rulers"—he pointed to a pink diamond symbol near the top—"has been missing, for thousands of years."  


"Missing?" asked Hester Albrecht, also of SG-26. "Are we sure she's even alive anymore?"  


"Well, Homeworld believes she was killed by her Pearl."  


O'Neill raised his hand. "Wait. _Her_ pearl?"  


"It's like an... enslaved secretary... We'll get back to that. Anyway, that Pearl became an important leader in the Rebellion. But she denies having anything to do with Pink Diamond's disappearance."  


"Well, she would, wouldn't she?" asked Nakayama.  


"Not necessarily," Carter said. "If she really did kill her ruler \- or even if she didn't - you'd think claiming to have done so would position her group as a more formidable threat."  


"And it doesn't make a lot of sense, either. From everything we've heard about Gems, and their rulers in particular, it's hard to believe they _can_ die. At least, not in the way we think of it." Daniel advanced the monitor to the next slide, this one showing a photograph of three Gems standing side by side. "The Rebellion has gathered all sorts of Gems from different castes," he said. "They've actually been reasonably successful. They don't have the same strategic tunnel vision that Homeworld does."  


"Even those not born to be warriors possess formidable might," added Teal'c.  


"So let me ask the obvious question." O'Neill leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table. "Why aren't we worrying about them?"  


"They're interested in being our allies," said Carter. "They're not offering anything but information, but they're also not asking for anything in return. They seem to think we're a natural partner."  


"Well. That's good. I take it Amethyst is going to join them?"  


Teal'c saw Daniel take a quick glance in the general direction of Amethyst's quarters. "Yeah, about that..."  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to TheInkredibleKaptainKaiju, author of Brotherhood of Glass, for letting me use a few members of Fireteam Victor in cameo roles. Seemed appropriate given the setting!


	6. Chapter 6

The room was beginning to feel more lived-in. A number of posters had been hung beside Amethyst's bed. However, the selection on the base was limited: most of the posters were old world maps with countries whose names and borders had changed, and some of them had been hung vertically alongside the TV set.  


Amethyst was sitting on her bed with her back to the door when Teal'c entered the room. He hadn't seen her since their mission together the previous day, when something about the other Gems had brought out an emotional response in her that he hadn't seen before. Perhaps this was how the Tau'ri had felt when he had insisted on going back to Chulak for his son.  


"General O'Neill requires your game controller." He sat on the chair, next to the other side of the bed. "He claims it is for one of Colonel Carter's projects. I believe it to be a pretense under which I am to provide emotional comfort."  


Amethyst sniffled. "I'm bad, aren't I?"  


Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "In what way?"  


"I always wanted to know who I was. I knew I was made to fight, but... I didn't think it would be for the bad guys."  


"You are not in fact fighting for them."  


"But I'm not fighting for the rebellion, either! They're right about me. About the quartzes." Amethyst turned around and lay down on her side. She was still avoiding eye contact, but Teal'c could see the tears streaming down her face. "They're out there fighting against oppression and tyranny and whatever. _They're_ the good guys."  


"You are upset because they appeared to reject you."  


"It's not that," Amethyst said. "They knew I would never join them. That I don't really care. And I _should_ care! I should be with them. But I... I can't bring myself to do it."  


Teal'c spotted a box of tissues on a dresser behind his chair and set it on Amethyst's nightstand.  


"I'm _scared_ of them, Teal'c. I know they're on our side, but..."  


"Are these not the first people you have met who pose a substantial physical threat?"  


"You impaled me with a staff four days ago!"  


Teal'c simply nodded. Amethyst was virtually immortal, and apparently had no possessions or social network to speak of at present; loss of life or property would be of no concern to her. He looked off to the side, deep in thought, and spotted his staff weapon leaning against the chair. Although he had used it to defeat her, it was not a particularly efficient weapon. Teal'c continued to use it in battle, where he could benefit from his many years of practice, but in most people's hands, the projectile weapons of the Tau'ri would be far superior.  


_"This is a weapon of terror. It's made to intimidate the enemy." Colonel O'Neill tossed the Jaffa staff weapon to the side. He picked up his P-90. "This is a weapon of war," he continued. "It's made to kill the enemy."  
_

The strength of the staff was not in its raw power. It was in the _appearance_ of power. The deadly force of a bullet may not be apparent to a pre-industrial society, but entire planets had capitulated to the Goa'uld, terrified by the unfamiliar weapons and uniforms of the Jaffa.  


"Do you believe you understand the mental state of the other Gems?" he asked.  


Amethyst looked over at him. "I'm not saying they're _wrong_ , okay?"  


"But you find yourself unable to empathize with their thoughts and actions."  


Amethyst nodded. A few tears fell onto her shirt.  


"Perhaps it is that unfamiliarity which gives rise to fear."  


"But I'll _never_ understand them! I don't know what their lives are like! I don't remember _anything_ before I came to this planet! I don't have people to care about. I don't have a home." She looked into Teal'c's eyes. "You must have a home, right?"  


"I am of the planet Chulak."  


"Then why are you here?"  


"The Tau'ri helped free my home from the rule of the false god Apophis," Teal'c said. "They provided me with the opportunity to turn on my master and fight for the freedom of all under the tyranny of the System Lords. Their efforts have helped turn Chulak into a stronghold of the Jaffa rebellion."  


"Your... master? You used to work for Apophis?"  


"Indeed."  


Amethyst wiped her eyes. "And your people - the Jaffa are warriors? And they're rebelling against the Goa'uld?"  


"Some are still loyal to their masters. But many others lie in wait, prepared to join our ranks when the opportunity presents itself. Perhaps the quartz soldiers occupy a similar position."  


"The other Gems didn't seem to think so."  


"Are you aware of the Tok'ra?"  


Amethyst shook her head.  


"They are also allies in our fight against the Goa'uld," Teal'c explained. "But they do not maintain a formal relationship with the Jaffa rebellion."  


She didn't ask why. Teal'c supposed she had figured that out for herself. "So maybe there are some quartzes out there who are actually, you know, helping. But you grew up with other Jaffa. I don't know any other Amethysts. What am _I_ supposed to do?"  


"In order to fight properly," said Teal'c, "you must know your reason for doing so. And if you do not know yet..." He briefly looked towards one of the maps on the wall. "Perhaps you will find out soon."  



	7. Chapter 7

"Daniel. How goes the archaeology?"  


"Well, it's not so much archaeology as geology." Daniel sat down opposite O'Neill and Teal'c at a table in the commissary. "Gina Packard from Area 51 has taking the lead on this one. Speaking of things under mountains... We know Amethyst's not a threat by now. Don't you think it's time we let her go?"  


"I've tried," said O'Neill.  


"It appears she does not wish to leave," Teal'c added.  


"She didn't come out and say it, but... yeah."  


"Huh." Daniel glanced over at a table across the room, where Peridot was analyzing Packard's rice pilaf. "You think she wants something? Or maybe she just doesn't have anywhere else to go."  


"She's been around a few thousand years," O'Neill said. "And she's virtually immortal. I'm sure she could figure something out."  


Teal'c thought back to his last conversation with her. "Perhaps she prefers to remain here for emotional reasons," he said.  


"It's a military base," said O'Neill, who gave Teal'c an incredulous look. "Not the most charming environment."  


"It is the place where the Tau'ri explore and catalogue other worlds. I believe Amethyst wishes to find the planet where she was created."  


"Kind of a long shot, don't you think?"  


"I'm not so sure anymore." Daniel pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. It was a photocopy of a diagram, hand-drawn in pencil, with labels in a language Teal'c did not recognize. Below each label, someone with a pen had filled in an English translation, although combination of words was highly unusual: "injector", "life force", "kindergarten", "goo". O'Neill was quick to catch that last one.  


"Goo?"  


"That's how Peridot described it," said Daniel. "My guess is that there's not an official term for it. 'Kindergarten', on the other hand - that was very clearly a technical term, and that's the standard translation the Gems all use."  


"Then this describes how Gems are produced," Teal'c said.  


"Exactly. They inject this substance into the ground, and it somehow grows these crystalline lifeforms. But it also has the effect of making the area incapable of supporting organic life."

"So they really _are_ gems?" asked O'Neill.  


"The underlying mechanism probably isn't that different from the lifeforms we found on P3X-562. What's really odd is that the holographic bodies they make for themselves are humanoid. Even the Gems themselves don't know why that is. Anyway, there are a lot of other factors that influence the Gem that gets created: the geological composition of the area, certainly, but also the physical geography and the amount of time that passes before they emerge from the rock. You remember how Amethyst said she woke up underground?"  


Teal'c nodded.  


"Area 51 calls it the 'Prime Site'. Packard was on a team that looked into it several years back. Apparently, nothing ever grows there, and they've never been able to figure out why. Of course, we can't prove anything, but..."  


O'Neill took the diagram in his hands, looked it over for a few seconds, then set it back on the table. "So you think Amethyst isn't an alien after all."  


"It's the opposite of the situation Jonas was in. Her species is native to another planet, but she's not."  


"Then perhaps she has not lost her memories as she believes," Teal'c said. "She has no memories to lose."  


"I think you're right," said Daniel. "I see why she would make that assumption, though. Gems don't have childhoods, per se – they remember everything from the moment they first wake up. And Amethyst's first moments, from her perspective, wouldn't make that much sense."  


Amethyst had emerged five thousand years ago, just as the Goa'uld were retreating from Earth. It would have been natural, Teal'c thought, for her to recognize them not as gods, but as equals, and to believe that she herself must have came from space, as the Goa'uld did.  


"Yeah," O'Neill said, "speaking of that. Shouldn't there be... more of her?"

"We think the Gems abandoned their plans to colonize Earth after being defeated by the Goa'uld."  


"Why'd they even try in the first place?"  


"Maybe they underestimated them. The Gems typically operate within a pretty small slice of the galaxy; it's possible that they had never felt threatened by organic life before. In any case, we think they extracted most of the Gems grown on Earth before they left. They must have missed Amethyst, though. By the time she woke up, there weren't any others around."  


* * *

"I like this stuff." Amethyst looked over the plate of rice pilaf Teal'c had brought to her quarters. She sat on the floor, her long hair getting caught on the furniture behind her, and poked the rice with her fork.  


"It appears that you are able to digest food and drink," Teal'c said.  


"Yeah. I had a lot of time to figure out what I can do, you know? And some of it I needed – I never would have spent so much time on my human disguises if I didn't have to. But this?" She put her hand on her stomach. "There's a lot of great food on this planet. No way I'm passing that up."  


Amethyst yawned and rolled over onto her side.  


"Too bad I can't find my _actual_ planet."  


"Searching will no longer be necessary, Amethyst," said Teal'c. "Peridot and Daniel Jackson believe you were created on Earth."  


"What?" She sat up with a start. "How - how's that even possible? Where are all the other Gems?"  


"It seems that they left the planet before you were born. Possibly due to the threat posed by the System Lords."  


" _Those_ dudes? They were running away when I woke up! Wait, so... when I woke up. That was me _being born_?"  


Teal'c nodded.  


"So I'm not missing anything after all. The whole time I was looking for my home - I was already here. I mean, I always liked it here. I just never thought it would be, like, _mine_." Amethyst picked up a single grain of rice from her plate. "I just wish I could find my people, you know? I was so psyched to find other Gems, but... it's not the same. I can't invest myself in their cause, I guess. Wish I could. It'd be better than just laying around."  


"Although their struggle is just," said Teal'c, "it is not the only cause worth fighting for. Perhaps your place is elsewhere."  


* * *

"Is anyone from SG-26 getting reassigned?" Carter asked.  


"I think it's okay to have a five-person team," said O'Neill. "We already skipped a couple SG numbers for them anyway. Sort of adds an intimidation factor."  


Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"It was their idea," O'Neill added.  


"The number?" asked Daniel. "Or having Amethyst on the team?"  


"I happen to agree on both counts. Besides, she's already got a good rapport with them."  


"Particularly with Airman Vargas," said Teal'c.  


"Yeah.... is _that_ a good sign?"  


"We took a risk recruiting him," Carter said. "He's more than proven himself by now."  


O'Neill shrugged. "Guess you're right. If Amethyst turns out half as well as he did, we might need to have people break in more often."  


Teal'c glanced around the briefing room, but it was empty save for the three of them; everyone else had gone back to their posts.  


"I assume you have acquired the necessary approval from your superior officers," he said.

"Already processed," said O'Neill. He stood up and began to walk towards the stairway. "By the way - if anyone asks, she's civilian contractor Amy Mathis from Phoenix, Arizona."  



End file.
